Vise support having universal joint



Mm. 117, 1950 s P HULL A fl VISE SUPPORT HAVING UNIVERSAL JOINT LOCKED BY PAIR OF NUT-ACTUATED WEDGES Filed Nov. 19, 1947 IN VEN TOR.

Patented Jan. 17, 1950 U N l TED STA-T E S AT'ENT F F [C E.

VISE SUPPORT HAVINGIINIVERSALJOINT LOCKED BY PAIR WEDGES OF NUI-ACTUATED 3 Claims.

The invention herein disclosed-relates to'a support for a bench vise.

Heretofore, and prior to the invention herein disclosed the common bench vise has been secured directly to the bench through a base on which it is rotatable on a vertical axis, an axis perpendicular to the surface of the bench. With this arrangement; the workman, in many instances must frequently shift the work and in some instances assume awkward positions for working on a piece clamped in the vise. An object of this invention is to provide a vise support with which universaladjustment of a vise may be had.

By the invention, there is provided a support for a vise with which. support the vise may be fixedly secured in various positions from the vertical to the horizontal. At the same time; the vise may berotated so that substantially universal adjustment is attainable. In accordancewith the invention, there is provided a-supporting plate that includes a curved portion to which the vise is loosely secured and on which'the viseis shiftable about the curvature of the plate. Cooperating with the base of the vise and the supporting plate; there are elements forfixedly securing'the vise on the supporting plate in any adjusted position thereon;

Such a vise support. constituting one specific embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and described in detail below from which description a'clearer under standing'of the invention may be had.

The drawings include:

Fig. 1 which is a sectional elevation of the vise support with a vise secured thereon; Fig. 2 whichis a sectional plan of the same as taken on line IIII of Fig; 1; Fig: 3 which is a frag= mentary. sectional plan taken on the line IlI[- --III of Fig." 1; Fig; 4 which is a sectional elevation taken onthe line IV-IV of Fig; 1; Fig. 5 which is an inverted sectional plan taken: on the line V-V oiFig. 1; Fig; 6 which is an exploded view of certain elements of the vise support; Fig. 7 which is a side elevation of a modified form of supporting plate; and Fig. 8 which is a fragmentary plan of the plate shown in Fig. '7.

In general, the vise support illustrated in'the drawing comprises a supporting plate I that in-- cludes a portion Z-adapted to be-secured to a bench 3, and a curved portion a that is adapted to overhang the edge of the bench. The-baset of a vise 5 is loosely securedto the curved portion 4 of the supporting plateby'a securing element or bolt 'l that extends through a slot 3 in the" curved portion 4 of the supporting plate and into the base 5- o-fthe vise 6. A pressure exerting arrangement 9 is utilized for fixedly securing the base of the vise in any adjusted position on the curved portion 4 of the supporting plate; This'is manipulated by a hand piece Ill to loosen or. fix the base of the vise with respect to the supporting plate. In this way, the visa 6' may be fixedly secured on the supporting plate in any position from the vertical, as shown. infull lines in Fig. 1, to the horizontal,

s shown in broken lines.

In the arrangement disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, a base plate It is secured in a recess l2.in the top of the bench 3. Desirably, the bottom of the recess is provided with a wear plate I3. The base plate has two pairs of aligned slots I l and. i5 therethrough. Bolts it, one for each slot, extend through the slots and'through holes therefor throughthe bench. Nuts I! are threaded on the'bolts at the under side 'ofthe bench. By loosenlngthe'bolts It, the base plate I! may be shifted; within the limits of the slot, toward and; awayfrom the edge-of the bench.

Abolt it; having the head 29 in a recess inthe underside of the base plate, extends upwardlythrough' the-base plate and an opening therefor through theportion 2 of the supporting plate. A washer 2i surrounds the bolt 58 and engages the supporting plate; and a nut 22 threaded on the bolt l3 secures the supporting plate to the base. plate H. A. clamplock 23, of a kind well known in the art and commonly used on Vises, serves to 'secure the'supportingplate I in various, adjusted, angular positions about theaxis of the bolt I8.

As stated, thesupporting plate I includes the portion Tsecured. in Figs. 1 and 2, to the bench, through the bolt" l8, and the curved portion 4. These two portions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; are'joinedby an intermediate, depressed portion 24. The slots in the curved portion 4 of the supporting'plate extends along the curvature thereof.

The securingplate 8' is positioned on the concaved' side of the curved portion 6 of-the supporting "plate. Desirably. the surface of the securing plate adjacent the supporting plate is convexed'complementary tothe curvature of the portion 4" ofrtheseeuring plate. The securing plate has anopening therethrough'for the scouring element or bolt 1.

The base 5. of the" common bench vise is provided with an extending'collai', such as the collar 25. The securing'plate; forming a part of the vise support of this-invention is provided with a spacing element such that when the bolt 1 is tightened, the base .ofthe viseis loosely secured to the curved portion'of thesupporting plate and the vise is easily and readily moved about the curved portion of the supporting plate. In the embodimentoff the invention illustrated in the drawing; this spacing" element consists of acollar 28 extending from the supporting plate, surrounding the bolt l, and engaging the edge of the collar 25. The two collars thus act as a spacing means the length of which is greater than the thickness of the curved portion of the supporting plate.

The pressure exerting arrangement 1 acts between the base of the vise and the curved portion 4 of the supporting plate. This arrangement consists of a pair of opposed wedge-shaped elements 29 and 30. The element 29 has a yoke 3| formed integral therewith. This yoke 3| is of lesser width than the slot 8 in the curved portion 4 of the supporting plate I, and it has an opening therethrough for a bolt 32. The yoke embraces the bolt 7 and the spacing collar 25. The head 33 of the bolt 32 is received in a recess in the yoke and the bolt is thus restrained against rotation.

The element 30 is provided with a curved cen tral portion 34 which receives the end of the yoke 3|. An opening is provided through the portion 3i for the bolt 32. The hand piece Ii! has a hollow, internally threaded extension 35 that engages the bolt in threaded engagement therewith. A thrust member 36 is placed between the end of the extension 35 and the curved portion 34 of the element 30. By rotating the hand piece II], the wedge-shaped elements 29 and 30 are either drawn together or released.

As these elements 29 and 30 act between the base of the vise and the curved portion 4 of the supporting plate, the upper surfaces of the elements which act against the base of the vise are fiat, and the lower surface portions that engage the curved portion of the supporting plate are concaved complementary to the curvature of the supporting plate. When the hand element ii) is rotated in a direction to thread the extension on the bolt, the elements 20 and 30 are drawn toward each other and become wedged between the curved portion of the supporting plate and the base of the vise. In this way, the base of the vise is fixedly secured to the curved portion of the supporting plate in any adjusted position thereon. When the hand element is rotated in the opposite direction, the pressure exerted by the wedge-shaped elements 29 and 30 is relieved and the vise may be moved about the curved portion of the supporting plate to any desired position. It may also be rotated about the axis of the bolt 1 if desired.

In Figs. 7 and 8, a modified form of supporting plate is illustrated. This plate includes a portion 31 having bolt holes 38 therethrough for securing the supporting plate directly to the bench, and a curved portion 39 that overhangs the edge of the bench. In this arrangement, the curved portion 39 has an open ended slot 40, so that, if desired, the vise may be readily removed from the supporting plate. The vise clamping structure described above is equally efiective and usuable with the supporting plate illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8.

From the foregoing description of the vise support illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent that by this invention there is provided a vise support with which universal adjustment of the position of a vise may be had; a vise support with which a Vise is readily and easily shifted from one position to another; and that is simple in construction and effective in use.

It will be obvious that various changes may be made by those skilled in the art in the details of the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawing and described above within the prin ciple and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

. 1. A support for a vise having a base, which support comprises in combination a supporting plate including a curved portion having a slot therein along the curvature thereof, a securing plate at the concaved side of the curved portion of the supporting plate, means extending through the slot in'the supporting plate and between the base of the vise and the supporting plate and loosely securing the base of the vise to the supporting plate, a pair of wedge-shaped elements positioned to engage between the base of the vise and the supporting plate, and means for actuating the wedge-shaped elements to fixedly secure the base of the vise to the curved portion of the supporting plate in any adjusted position thereon.

2. A support for a vise having a base, which support comprises in combination a supporting plate including a curved portion having a slot therein along the curvature thereof, a securing plate at the concaved side of the curved portion of the supporting plate, means extending through the slot in the supporting plate and between the base of the vise and the supporting plate, a pair of wedge-shaped elements positioned to engage between the base of the vise and the supporting plate, and male and female threaded elements for actuating the wedge-shaped elements to fixedly secure the base of the vise to the curved portion of the supporting plate in any adjusted position thereon.

3. A support for a vise having a base, which support comprises in combination a supporting plate including a portion adapted to be secured to a bench and a curved portion adapted to extend beyond the edge of the bench, the curved portion having a slot therethrough along the curvature thereof, a securing plate at the concaved side of the curved portion of the supporting plate and having a convexed surface complementary thereto, a securing element extending between the base of the vise and the securing plate, the securing element extending through the slot of the supporting plate, a spacing collar surrounding the securing element and extending between the securing plate and the base of the vise, the spacing element being longer than the thickness of the supporting plate, a pair of opposed wedge-shaped elements positioned to engage between the base of the vise and the supporting plate, and male and female threaded elements for actuating the wedge-shaped elements to fixedly secure the base of the vise to the curved portion of the supporting plate in any adjusted Position thereon.

SAMUEL P. HULL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 320,224 Colton June 16, 1885 717,422 Lewin Dec. 30, 1902 757,918 I-Ianstine Apr. 19, 1904 832,087 Scoggins Oct. 2, 1906 1,901,120 Rankin Mar. 14, 1933 

